Robbie McEwen shows good end-of-season form with Wallonie-Picarde win

Four days after a world road race championship that he had hoped to compete in but missed out on selection for, Robbie McEwen has shown strong form in landing a late-season win and leader’s jersey. The Australian RadioShack rider blazed home first on day one of the Tour de Wallonie Picarde (previously called the Circuit Franco-Belge), finishing first in Péruwelz ahead of 2010 race winner Adam Blythe (Omega Pharma – Lotto) and the Leopard Trek rider Rüdiger Selig.

“My teammates brought me in a perfect position,” he said afterwards, pleased to back on the podium. “Sky was pulling for Russell Downing. Behind their trio of Sutton, Henderson and Downing, Blyth was there with his teammate Vandousselaere. I was in the wheel of Blyth, who accelerated. I could easily go around him and his team-mate.

“My sprint was very regular, no explosiveness, but I continuously accelerated. I had to as the last 150 meters were really uphill. I could keep up my pace and won quite easily. This makes me happy...my third victory of the season.”

The result saw Blythe end the day four seconds off McEwen, and well positioned to push for the jersey in the days ahead.

Selig finished just off the podium in last week’s world under 23 championships, and so Leopard Trek directeur sportif Torsten Schmidt said that he knew the stagiaire could perform today. “We expected the race to end in a bunch sprint as it did,” he stated. “The finish was a little bit uphill, and it had a similar quality to the finish at the World Championships. Selig finished fourth in the U23 race at Worlds, so I knew this was a good sprint for him.”

Rapid start, long break:

Racing was aggressive from the drop of the flag, with several moves going clear but being unable to stay away. One of those which clipped away from the bunch was a break containing Sky Procycling’s Mathew Hayman, Christophe Premont (Wallonie Bruxelles) and Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen). After these were brought back, more attacks were fired off.

After approximately 55 kilometres, Ag2r La Mondiale competitor David Lelay (AG2R), Ronan Van Zandbeek (Skil/Shimano) and Jonathan Dewitte (Wallonie – Bruxelles) snapped the elastic and, 25 kilometres later, had built a six and a half minute lead. This prompted the bunch to hit the gas, and the trio were caught on the finishing circuit.

McEwen and his team did things perfectly at the finish, and crossed the line first. “With Sam Bewley, Michal Kwiatkowski and Gregory Rast I still had three teammates with me,” he explained. “Rast and Kwiatkowski brought me through the last kilometer and then Kwiatkowski guided me to sixth position to start the sprint. It was an ideal situation for me.”

He said that winning the race is not his top goal, with getting ready for Paris-Tours being his main priority. Still, he will ride as well as possible and then see where he ends up.

The four day, 2.1- ranked race continues tomorrow with a 159.2 kilometre stage from Menin to Poperinge.